Sir Trevor gave his thoughts on this season U19s crop.

UEFA European U19 Championship
First Qualifying Round
Albania, Belgium, Cyprus, England
8-13 October 2010
Malmedy & Vise, Belgium
Click here for fixtures
By Nicholas Veevers

Sir Trevor Brooking  was in the Midlands earlier this week to see the England U19 squad in training ahead of their European U19 Championship qualifiers, which begin on Friday in Belgium.

The Young Lions met up at the weekend and had a couple of training sessions at West Bromwich Albion’s training ground before heading out to Belgium on Tuesday ahead of games with Albania, Cyprus and the hosts.

And with a number of Noel Blake’s squad making the step-up from last season’s successful U17 side, The FA's Director Of Football Development is hopeful this squad can progress to reach the last eight of the competition for a fourth successive season.

"We like to feel as though we'll get through this group,” Brooking told FATV.

"It's a tough competition, as we've seen in the last couple of years.

"We lost in the Final last year to the hosts Ukraine, and then we got to the semi-final this summer, when we lost to Spain, who were a very good side.”

However, given the way that many of the players involved performed at U17 level, Brooking believes it will be an interesting challenge for them to step-up a grade and he feels hopeful that they can continue their development and progress.

"The interesting thing about this group is that half of the squad are from the group which won the European U17s Championship in the summer,” he added. “So we've fast-tracked them through, because we think they are a really good side.

"They keep the ball well, they're very good technically and we think it will be a good challenge for them to see how they cope.

"They are playing a year up so they can play for the U19s next season as well and if they do well in this group then we have to make decisions about the U20s and Under-21s.

"I think some of these players are capable of coming through the system pretty quickly, particularly if they can get some first team football with the clubs that they're at.”

England begin their First Qualifying Round games on Friday, when they face Albania.

Watch the full interview with Sir Trevor now by clicking the link on the right.